


all the love you won't forget

by holtzbabe



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: 50th fic, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 20:30:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16794190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holtzbabe/pseuds/holtzbabe
Summary: “Sometimes I think about the glory days,” Erin says.Holtz turns her head to take in Erin lying beside her. Cheeks pink from the cold night air. Staring up at the stars above them.“What glory days?”





	all the love you won't forget

**Author's Note:**

> When I started thinking about how I wanted to close out NaNoWriMo, I noticed that I was five works shy of my 50th Holtzbert fic. It's funny, writing 50,000 words in a month didn't feel like much of an accomplishment. I think it's because 50,000 words used to mean something to me and now it doesn't, not when I've written 665,000 words of fanfiction in the past two-and-a-half years. 
> 
> But 50 fics - that feels special. I've written and posted five new works in the past five days, including this one, to make this happen. So here's to the end of NaNoWriMo, here's to my Golden Holtzbert fic, and here's to this fandom: two-and-a-half years and still going strong.

“Sometimes I think about the glory days,” Erin says.

Holtz turns her head to take in Erin lying beside her. Cheeks pink from the cold night air. Staring up at the stars above them.

“What glory days?” 

“You know,” Erin says, “like back when we first started. When we had just saved the city and everyone knew who we were and what we had done. Everything was new and exciting and everybody was interested in us. We were all over the news. We were getting dozens of calls a day. Fanmail by the bucketful. People _cared_ about us.”

“People still care about us,” Holtz murmurs.

“Not like they used to,” Erin says. “Not like they did back then. Now we’re lucky to get one call a month. I can’t remember the last time somebody recognized me on the street. I feel like…I feel like we’re being forgotten.”

Holtz swallows. She can’t see over the edge of the roof from this vantage point, can’t see the lights of the city. She can picture them, though. The glittering messages of love and support that surfaced right after they saved the city. They stayed lit up like that for a few weeks, and then slowly began blinking out one by one, until all that remained was the cityscape that existed before everything went down.

“Is that such a bad thing?” she asks. “It’s not all about the attention. The work we’re doing is still important whether or not people are paying attention to us…”

“I know, and I know that I sound superficial.” Erin sighs wistfully. “I just…I liked it, okay? I liked feeling important. I liked the praise. I liked the validation. I know that’s not why we’re doing what we’re doing, but it was…a benefit I really miss.”

“People still appreciate us.”

“I know they do. It’s just…not like it was. It’s never going to be like it was. We’re never going to get those glory days back, not unless we stop another apocalypse or something.”

“Is that what you want? To go back to how it was?”

“Yeah. It’s horrible, but sometimes I wish I could just go back in time and relive it. Those were the best days of our lives.”

Holtz rolls to face her. “I don’t think that’s true.”

“It is.”

“ _No,_ ” Holtz says firmly, gently. “Erin, it’s been what, almost two-and-a-half years now? Think of everything that’s happened in the last few years.”

Erin rolls to face her as well.

“We moved,” Holtz says, “from a _Chinese restaurant_ to this _gorgeous_ firehouse.”

“Okay, but—”

“We’ve become leading world experts on the paranormal,” Holtz says. “We’ve developed tech that has reached new scientific heights. Could you _imagine_ going back to our first gen tech? I mean god, I’d rather die.”

Erin laughs softly.

Holtz continues. “We won that research grant. We’ve published two books. Two-and-a-half, if you include Ghosts from Our Past, which was basically already published. Abby won that prestigious award. You won that other prestigious award. Patty got her master’s. Patty got _engaged_. Kevin won that international hide and seek championship. Kevin had a missing person’s report filed for him. Kevin turned up in Argentina.”

“You’re getting off track.”

“No I’m not. I’m reminding you of all the things that have happened since our so-called ‘glory days’ that you seem so desperate to get back to. All the _amazing_ things. Sure, at the beginning everything was new and shiny and exciting, but we barely _knew_ each other back then. Since then, we’ve all become the closest damn friends that this world has ever seen. I don’t know about you, but I’d take that closeness over shiny new friendships any day.” Holtz shakes her head. Her voice softens. “And _us,_ Erin? What about us?”

Erin stares back at her, eyes wide.

“We fell in love,” Holtz whispers. “We went from being strangers to being friends to being best friends to being more than friends. We moved in together. We traveled across the country together. We went to Europe together. We met each others’ families. We stayed up all night on more than one occasion just because we couldn’t stop talking. We helped each other heal from injuries, illnesses, pain. We went on more dates than I can count. We got a cat. We’ve laughed and cried and kissed and slept together and danced and _loved_ with everything we’ve got. How could those have possibly been the best days of our lives, when all that was yet to come?”

“Don’t you wish you could go back in time and have the chance to fall in love with me all over again, though?”

A smile plays at her lips. “I don’t have to, Er. I feel like I’ve lived a thousand lifetimes with you already. Fallen in love with you a thousand times in a thousand different ways. I fall in love with you all over again _every day of my life_. I don’t need a time machine for that.” She stretches out her hand to touch Erin’s cheek. “These are the glory days, Erin. We’re living them. Every single day we have together. All of us. This is it.”

Erin continues to stare at her for a few moments, eyes watery, and then she shifts forward and presses her lips to Holtz’s.

They move together with gentle familiarity. Hunger. Need. Comfort. Holtz throws her leg over Erin’s, rolls the both of them so she’s hovering over top of her, sits up. Tips Erin’s chin up and kisses her once more.

Erin’s hair is spread out on the blanket beneath them. She looks so beautiful in this lighting. She looks so beautiful in every lighting.

“Thank you,” she whispers.

“For talking some sense into you?” Holtz jokes.

“For the last two-and-a-half years,” Erin says. “For being with me. For loving me. For reminding me of why I’m happier than I’ve ever been right now. For everything. I love you.”

“And I love you,” Holtz says. “And that is never, _never_ going to change.”

And Erin pulls her down, and kisses her again, and Holtz—

Holtz falls in love with her all over again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you
> 
> xo


End file.
